Independent auditors give city a clean opinion and report $1.8 million net increase in general fund

Amanda Mboga, the audit manager, told the council the independent audit of the city's 2024 financial statements resulted in an unmodified — or "clean" — opinion. Mboga said the city's governmental funds produced a net positive change in fund balance of about $1.8 million for 2024, with revenues and other financing sources totaling roughly $10.8 million and expenditures and other uses totaling about $9.0 million. She said the largest revenue positive variance came from transfers in (about $666,000), largely related to capital and capital-replacement transfers and the closing of TIF District No. 6, which contributed approximately $114,000 to the general fund. Investment income added roughly $307,000 above budget. On the expenditure side, leisure activities (parks and library) were about $154,000 under budget, contributing to the favorable overall result. Mboga walked the council through fund-balance trends and noted the city's unrestricted fund balance equaled about 57.9% of annual revenues for 2024, meaning, in simplified terms, those reserves could cover roughly 57.9% of a year's operations if new revenues were not generated. She said that percentage is above median benchmarks for similarly sized governments and exceeds the Government Finance Officers Association's minimum guidance. Council staff noted the city adopted an internal fund-balance policy in 2022 and that Moody's guidance led them to raise a target minimum from 50% to 60% in later discussions; staff said the city has not yet met all internal targets. Auditors reported no concerns in trend analysis and thanked city staff for their cooperation during the audit. The presentation covered only governmental funds; auditors said utility funds would be presented separately to the utility commission. There was no formal council action recorded on the audit presentation.